Savage Webs, page 20
part #2 of Apocalypse Cultivation Series
“It’s okay, uh, I come in peace,” said Jake. That didn’t seem to help.
The woman began to tremble and she very deliberately dropped the rifle in her hands, pushing it away with her foot. She stayed completely still, only her eyes moving.
Jake sighed and smoothly crossed his legs, sitting on the asphalt. As he did so, he realized that normal humans might have trouble seeing well in the predawn light. It made him wonder again if he could even think of himself as human anymore, and at the end of the day, if that really mattered.
He thought back to the fact that his teacher, Master Zi, was a dragon. The Protectors back in Macon had been human.
Nah, doesn’t matter that much, he thought.
He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with the people here in Locust Grove, but it was obvious that all the raiders were gone. Burn barrels and solar lights were scattered around the area, providing some measure of light. Some mist blanketed the ground. There weren’t many people here, but the teen girl Jake had just seen seemed to be a noncombatant, so maybe this area was behind a safe perimeter area.
A lot had definitely changed in just a few days. The barriers were gone. A lot of the debris had been cleaned up. There were no bodies, but that was a given unless the entire area had been abandoned, and even then, monsters might have gotten to them.
There were signs of new construction, though. It looked like some of the businesses were being turned into shelters. Maybe this area was going to be a new stronghold.
Headlights popped up over a hill and a jeep cruised up to a stop near Jake. Three men got out warily. They didn’t point their weapons at Jake, but they didn’t respond when he cheerily waved to them either.
One’s radio kept squawking, and after hitting the talk button, he said, “Yeah, blue eyes. It–he–matches the description. Not making any aggressive movements.” After some more squawking, he said, “Yeah, he’s just sitting here with his sword on his lap.” More squawking. “No, nobody has been stupid enough to attack him. Laci said he just popped out of nowhere, like literally appeared in the middle of the road. One minute, she was walking behind a building for some tools; the next, Harriet Smith was yelling and the Grim was there.” Longer squawking this time. “Yes, Mrs. Smith is still here. We’ll definitely stay here until James arrives.”
Another couple vehicles pulled up soon, and Jake was starting to feel downright amused. It was like a festival.
The two new trucks had the Paladins, and Jake was shocked when Tracy ran to him, bending down to give him a hug around his shoulders. “Thank you, oh thank you,” she said. “Thank you for saving our babies.”
Jake awkwardly patted her arm.
Tracy turned, and with the rest of the Paladins next to her, in a voice of steel, she said, “Back up, everyone. Give the Grim space. If it weren’t for him, most of us would probably be dead by now…or worse.”
Nobody looked like they wanted to argue, and all but the Paladins backed up. There seemed to be a sense of relief that the area’s most powerful awakened fighters were there now.
John, the leader, had a bandaged arm now but still seemed full of fire. He made a face as he looked at Jake. “Are you just going to sit there, Jake? The way you’re staying so still and not saying anything is probably freaking some of these people out. Are you doing it on purpose?”
Jake grinned, remembering the tone he’d used when asking John about the “Paladins” name. He wondered if the man was mimicking Jake’s delivery on purpose and decided it didn’t matter. It was funny either way. “I was just trying to defuse any potential situations,” he said. He stood.
“Yeah, well, I can’t blame you. Even though I doubt anyone in town could actually hurt you, it might be awkward if the people you are trying to help keep trying to shoot you in the face.”
“Exactly,” said Jake. He stretched one arm. “I have to get going soon.”
“We…kind of figured it might be something like that,” said Caleb. The Paladin member had darker eyes now than the last time Jake had seen him, only a few days ago.
Jake gestured around them. “So what happened here?”
John spat. “We found the kids you saved, the ones that were on the way here. The barrier you left freaked some people out, but we proved it wouldn’t hurt humans. Then your fight with the psychos here was really, really loud. By the time anyone could investigate, most of them were dead.
“We mounted an offensive and managed to retake the area. We had some prisoners, but after we saw what they’d been doing in the Walmart…” He shook his head. “Can’t leave people alive who do that sort of thing, not in this world.
“Anyway, we’ve been rebuilding some, trying to decide whether to stay put or move out. The attack at the school was eye-opening, and the Paladins can’t be everywhere. Ironically, some folks have started trying to find some of your old advice on the internet to help with making a decision. In fact, now that you’re here, what do you suggest?”
Everyone on the street seemed to lean forward as Jake decided how to respond.
Finally, he said, “The only reason you have not been overwhelmed by the monsters out of McDonough so far was that they probably went north to Atlanta. All the big cities have really powerful monsters that can sometimes build armies. Eventually, some of the big monsters are going to get hungry or adventurous and come south. This place will be flattened, no matter how you build up this area. You don’t have enough people or enough time, or enough awakened.”
“You mean superhuman people?”
“Yeah. And because of what the bastards here before were doing, probably sacrificing kids to dark gods, there’s a miasma in the area that is eventually going to be like catnip to monsters.” Jake briefly changed his vision to look around the area, something he should have done before. “Yeah, just confirmed it.”
“So what should we do?” asked Tracy.
Jake pointed at the highway. “Head south to Macon. That place was decently organized even before I left, and because there was just a showdown there, there should be some calm for a bit. Right now, survivors really need to take all their resources with them and look for safety in numbers. Rebuild. Areas that used to have a decent number of people, but not full-blown big cities, are the best.”
“Places like Macon?” asked John.
“Exactly. And they have the lakes there for water,” said Jake.
The entire time they’d been talking, more vehicles had pulled up. People had gotten out silently, forming a larger crowd around them.
Something abruptly changed, though. A golf cart had come down the road from the direction of the Walmart. A man was driving, sitting next to a pretty young woman. Jake thought that both of them looked vaguely familiar. He might have met them the night he’d actually been active in this area before getting pulled into the world of illusions.
The golf cart stopped and the man got out. He walked forward and nodded to the Paladins. Then he stepped directly up to Jake.
“Hello, Grim. A lot has changed in the last few days, and for some bizarre reason, I’m a new leader of this community.”
Jake blinked. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Cool.”
The man said, “My name is James. Before anything else, I need to thank you for all that you’ve done for us.” And then, just like in a fucking movie, he began to slow clap. Everyone else standing around them, at least fifty people now, all clapped too.
Jake wanted to cringe right out of his skin. What the hell is going on!? He got a sudden urge to just leave, but gritted his teeth and waited. He still needed to ask someone in charge where he could get some vampire cores, and the guy in front of him seemed to be in charge. Time was running out. The sun was starting to rise.
As soon as the clapping died down, James said, “I have something for you.” He took off his backpack and extended it to Jake.
Curious, Jake accepted it and looked inside. Some stress on his shoulders was immediately lifted. The backpack was absolutely full of monster cores. He couldn’t even guess how many. It looked like most of them were from vampires too.
James said, “After you told me that we should save the cores for you, we all pitched in to find them and keep them ready for your return. Not a single person would dare rob the Grim, especially after all you’ve done for us.”
Jake wasn’t sure what to say. He just held the backpack loosely in one hand until he made it vanish into his storage ring. The surrounding onlookers gasped in shock.
“Uh, thank you,” said Jake. Then he pointed vaguely down the road. “I need to get going soon. Sort of have a train to catch to another world.”
There were more gasps, but James nodded seriously. “I thought it might be something like that.” Jake began to turn, but James held up one forestalling hand. “Oh yeah, we’ve been using the radios more lately. The surviving communities have been talking, and we’ve been spending more time talking to people in Macon. I was asked to pass on a message.”
Jake was a little curious now. He nodded for the man to continue.
James said, “A man named Vincent, a leader in Macon, told us to tell you he is fighting the good fight for real now. And that he is glad you are too.” He paused. “And he said no hard feelings that you stole so much of his shit.”
Vincent, huh? Jake chuckled. He said, “Stealing, huh?” and shook his head and thought for a minute. He actually considered taking the CZ Shadow 2 out of his inventory and giving it to James to give back to Vincent as a joke, but decided against it. Jake really liked that pistol. Instead, he pulled two enchanted spears out of his storage. The people around him goggled and didn’t move.
Jake had taken dozens of weapons from the house he’d inherited from Conophta. Most of the weapons were far too big for humans, but there had been a few exceptions. The minotaur had seemed to enjoy collecting weapons, all weapons. Jake gestured over to the Paladins, then handed one of the spears to John. The serious man easily spun it and rendered a salute. If most normal people had done that, it might have looked cheesy, but somehow John made it look cool.
Then he gestured James closer and handed him the other spear. The man accepted it reverently. “That one creates an explosive blast if you twist the blade while it’s jabbed into something. If you see Vincent in Macon, give him that and tell him we’re even.”
“Alright. I will.”
Jake took one more look around and nodded. Then, maybe because he’d just seen John salute, he tried to give a humorous salute of his own with two fingers. When half the people watching flinched, he got a sour feeling in his stomach and thought, Fuck it. Time to go anyway.
Jake turned, bounded over a handful of onlookers, and flash-stepped three times in quick succession down the street. He found the parking lot he’d appeared at when he’d first arrived back on Earth, and felt the draw of an open portal.
Without hesitation, he dove in.
James pinched the skin under his nose. He still felt a mixture of awe and dread, even after the Grim was gone.
Kathy quietly walked up behind him as one of the surrounding people said, “James, did he just wiggle his claws at us?”
“I…don’t know,” said James. He still wasn’t used to his new leadership role. People kept asking him questions and half of the time he had no answer.
Harriet moved forward. Her tone was thoughtful when she said, “Will he ever come back?”
Another woman wryly asked, “Do we want him to come back?”
Kathy confidently said, “I think if he comes back, it’ll be because we really need him.”
“Maybe,” said James noncommittally. He thought about the monster cores he’d just handed over. He could tell they were important to the Grim. For the last few days, he’d stressed, feeling like he was holding a suitcase nuke. He was worried that maybe the Grim might be angry that he wasn’t looking for him to give him the cores. Then he worried that the Grim might misunderstand if he went back to the site of the battle and didn’t find monster cores on the ground.
Some of the defenders had argued to leave them there, but they hadn’t gotten a message directly from the Grim like James had. Sometimes he wondered if people seemed to care more about his opinion now because of that.
John thoughtfully tapped the butt of the spear he’d received on the ground. “I’ve seen him a few times now, and I still don’t know what he actually is.”
All of the Paladins nodded.
“All I know,” said Tracy, “is that he does what’s right.”
“And he sure killed a hell of a lot of people doing what was right,” said Dalton. The Paladin had his arms folded.
“Yeah.” James drew a breath. “I’ve talked to the leaders in Macon some more. We can actually feel lucky that everything ended the way it did. Macon was bad. Really bad.”
“I dunno, man,” said Dalton. “The Grim fought that giant bull demon thing at the school. That thing could have problem chewed us all up. Bullets had no effect. It shrugged off a direct blast from Stephanie.”
The Paladins’ mage nodded. “The thing didn’t even turn. I don’t think I even hurt it.”
John said, “Some of the raiders said that the bull demon came back, dragged Jake, the Grim, into a portal. That was the last place anyone saw him go.”
“Maybe he went to hell,” said Dalton with a chuckle, but nobody else laughed.
“He seemed even stronger this time,” said James quietly.
One of the onlookers, a teen girl named Jenny, hugged herself. “He’s even freakier-looking in the light. Did you see the smoke stuff that comes off his body? Doesn’t it have like…color now? Reddish?”
“I saw that too,” said the young man her age standing next to her. He put an arm around her. “And it was like the air was warping around him, like he was really hot or something but…he wasn’t hot.”
Caleb, the youngest Paladin, suddenly slashed his hand through the air. “I don’t like this. Doesn’t seem right to talk shit about the Grim when he just left after saving all our asses. I don’t care about any of this. All I know is I’m glad the Grim is on our side.”
Some more reluctantly than others, but everyone nodded.
Chapter 29
After stepping through this portal, he didn’t lose consciousness like the last time, but Jake also didn’t experience an endless moment like he had with Conophta’s portal. Instead, it was like no time had passed when he suddenly found himself in the Morrigan’s garden.
The goddess did not acknowledge Jake’s presence. She was practicing with a spear, and it was one of the most beautiful things Jake had ever seen. He slowly sat to watch.
Every strike, every parry, all of the footwork–it was all beautiful. Crisp, lethal, and elegant.
Jake had never known that martial arts could look like this. He’d seen people practice in very impressive ways before. He’d even seen high level kata, even at the Olympic level prior to Purple Rain. None of it was anything like what he was witnessing right now, though.
The Morrigan was very clearly a martial arts goddess. Her motions were controlled, elegant, and full of terrible power. The balance of her movements were so advanced, Jake felt grateful to be skilled enough himself to even recognize part of how impressive it was.
The speed of her flowing, deadly dance grew faster and faster, until she was a blur. Great winds began to generate from her movements, creating ripples on the surface of the nearest dark pools. Clouds gathered overhead, or perhaps billows of fog. Red lightning stabbed down, turning The Morrigan’s spear into a shaft of blazing crimson light.
Jake was not easily impressed, especially after everything he’d been through over two lifetimes, but he was still filled with awe. He instinctively knew that the goddess could level mountains now with her spear and not even exert herself. It was the kind of power that surpassed mortal understanding. If she hadn’t been protecting him, the sheer pressure the power gave off would have reduced Jake to a mound of monster Spam.
When The Morrigan finally stopped, she didn’t so much slow as just crash to a halt. She wasn’t even breathing hard. Jake was surprised when the normally dignified goddess suddenly turned and blew him a kiss. Her eyes sparkled.
At the same time, Jake felt a portal behind him begin pulling him in. Oh hell no, he thought. He’d been biding his time, expecting to be able to talk to his de facto employer. He had a lot of questions about Conophta, about what was happening on Earth, and about the weird four days’ time limit the goddess had given him for his little side mission.
He struggled against the pull of the portal, but it was inevitable that he would be overcome. This was obviously not an accident. In the distance, The Morrigan waved at him.
The absurdity of the situation coupled with Jake’s growing bad mood, and the fact he’d come so close to dying–executed by Conophta—finally made Jake snap. Besides, Morrigan was his boss now. Despite everything he knew about dealing with powerful supernatural entities, Jake scowled and showed the goddess his middle finger.
Her eyes twinkled even more and she covered her mouth in mock shock. It was the last thing Jake saw before his vision was filled with white static.
When Jake’s vision cleared, he felt a half second of confusion. A wave of disorientation made him just stand still, trying to reboot his brain.
It almost killed him.
But reflex and instinct, he flash-stepped to one side right as a huge hand swept through the space he’d just occupied. In that moment, Jake saw the exit, remembered the challenge room, and realized how much overwhelming danger he was in. If he didn’t make it out in the next second, he was dead.
With all the excitement and stress he’d been through after going back to Earth, he’d forgotten about the challenge room!
Time seemed to slow for Jake. Luckily, the path to the exit wasn’t completely blocked yet, but it would be if he spent any more time thinking about what to do. Monsters had already blocked off his direct access, but Jake thought of a way. He wouldn’t have any time to course correct after committing, but he didn’t have any more time to think about it.
